A vacuum arc remelt apparatus comprising a crucible having a wall, said wall having an interior and an exterior opposite said interior; an electrode within the crucible proximate the interior; an ingot within the crucible and below the electrode, wherein said ingot includes a crown and shelf; and a vibration source at the exterior of the crucible proximate the crown and shelf.

A system and method is disclosed for monitoring graphite electrodes for use in an electric arc furnace includes receiving an electrode identifiers from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader configured to interrogate RFID tags in the vicinity of an electric arc furnace (EAF), wherein the RFID tags are attached to electrodes. The electrode identifier is associated with EAF data collected from the EAF and the association is stored in a memory. The association is used for generating current and past operating parameters of the electric arc furnace for specific electrodes. Data for each specific electrode used in the EAF can also be collected for determining performance parameters for specific electrodes.

A system including a graphite electrode having a graphite body with first and second opposed ends. The electrode further includes a threaded connector positioned at one of the first or second ends, and a tag coupled to or positioned in the threaded connector, wherein the tag is configured to transmit a signal including information relating to the electrode.

A control system includes a vision system including an imaging device and a VAR monitoring system configured to determine a power adjustment phase of the VAR process based on the images from the vision system and a process parameter. The VAR monitoring system includes a vision analysis module configured to analyze the images from the vision system to detect a melt marker based on a remelt image process model, and a prediction module configured to predict an operational characteristic of the VAR process that is associated with the power adjustment relative to a melt marker location and a remelt prediction model. The VAR monitoring system is configured to initiate the power adjustment phase in response to the melt marker satisfying a predetermined melt marker condition, the operational characteristic of the VAR process satisfying a predetermined operational condition, or a combination thereof.

Described are graphite-containing electrodes comprising zirconium-based coatings, which slow the loss of material from the electrodes when used at high temperatures, for example when used in arc furnaces between 1000 and 2000° C. The zirconium-based coating may be disposed on a graphite-containing surface of the electrode, or on a pre-coating disposed on a surface of the electrode. The zirconium-based coatings include one or more zirconium compounds such as zirconia. Also described are compositions and methods to coat graphite-containing electrodes with zirconium-based coating compositions.

A vacuum arc remelt apparatus comprising a crucible having a wall, said wall having an interior and an exterior opposite said interior; an electrode within the crucible proximate the interior; an ingot within the crucible and below the electrode, wherein said ingot includes a crown and shelf; and a vibration source at the exterior of the crucible proximate the crown and shelf.

A process for refining a nitrogen-containing metal alloy using arc remelting of a consumable electrode in a furnace, comprising: providing a consumable electrode of the metal alloy; providing a second electrode; providing a controlled atmosphere within the furnace; striking an arc between the consumable electrode and the second electrode to melt the consumable electrode and thereby form a molten metal alloy pool; maintaining the arc between the consumable electrode and the molten metal alloy pool; delivering the molten metal alloy into a mould and casting an ingot of refined metal alloy, wherein providing the controlled atmosphere comprises flowing Ar gas through the furnace at an Ar gas pressure of 1-500 Pa.

A process for refining a nitrogen-containing metal alloy using arc remelting of a consumable electrode in a furnace, comprising: providing a consumable electrode of the metal alloy; providing a second electrode; providing a controlled atmosphere within the furnace; striking an arc between the consumable electrode and the second electrode to melt the consumable electrode and thereby form a molten metal alloy pool; maintaining the arc between the consumable electrode and the molten metal alloy pool; delivering the molten metal alloy into a mould and casting an ingot of refined metal alloy, wherein providing the controlled atmosphere comprises flowing Ar gas through the furnace at an Ar gas pressure of 1-500 Pa.

A system and method is disclosed for monitoring graphite electrodes for use in an electric arc furnace includes receiving an electrode identifiers from a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag reader configured to interrogate RFID tags in the vicinity of an electric arc furnace (EAF), wherein the RFID tags are attached to electrodes. The electrode identifier is associated with EAF data collected from the EAF and the association is stored in a memory. The association is used for generating current and past operating parameters of the electric arc furnace for specific electrodes. Data for each specific electrode used in the EAF can also be collected for determining performance parameters for specific electrodes.

A control system for a vacuum arc remelting (VAR) process for a metal includes a direct current (DC) power source, a ram drive, voltage drip short sensor, and a controller, which includes a processor. The drip short sensor may be configured to measure a drip short frequency of the electric arc over a period of time. The controller is configured to determine a real time arc gap length between the electrode tip and the melt pool based on a correlation between the drip short frequency and arc gap length. The controller is further configured to control power input to the electrode by the DC power supply by determining an input power level to input to the electrode based on the real time arc gap length, the input power level configured to generate a desired arc gap length, by the DC power supply, at the input power level.